Dick Whittington (General)

by peteressex , Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 09:37 (4661 days ago)

Inspired by a current thread enquiring about this surname, I'm wondering if anybody knows of a fairly exhaustive piece of research into the reality or otherwise of the famous Lord Mayor of London having been born at Pauntley, and what really happened from there. What I can find is "bitty", but there seems to be a consensus that his birth was there or nearby around 1350, and that he did go to London to seek his fortune, though not because he was penniless but because as a younger son of a local landowner he could not expect to inherit his father's estate. It also seems more likely than not that his cat was legendary.

There is no doubt that a Sir Richard Whittington was Lord Mayor of London several times. However it has always disturbed me that if the young and disillusioned Dick left London to return home to Glos via Highgate Hill, he was seriously disorientated. Highgate Hill is just off the old Great North Road and over an hour's walk from the City. Anyone heading for Glos with any sense of direction was more likely in that time to have reached Notting Hill which to this day is just off the A40.